Press Releases

The Springfield Museums have announced the schedule for their annual “Summer Spectacular” Family Series, which runs from July 7 through August 15, 2014. Every Monday through Friday, families visiting the Quadrangle can look forward to a schedule packed with hands-on art and science activities, live reptile demonstrations, and family entertainment for all ages. All programs and performances are free with admission unless otherwise noted. The 2014 premier sponsor is MassMutual.

The Springfield Museums have received a $5,000 grant from the Xeric Foundation to present Art Picnic, a public arts project designed to beautify Springfield and give local art students from Distinctive Art Studio the chance to collaborate with established artists. The project will help to boost the creative economy of Springfield by providing a vehicle for local artists to display their work, while also allowing local art students to expand their skills, build their resumes and feel motivated to pursue a career in the arts. Art Picnic was first launched in the summer of 2013, when over 24 artists and students worked to create unique artwork on tables at the Museums.

The Springfield Museums have announced new prices for general admission, which covers entry to the Springfield Science Museum, the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History, and the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum.

Next month, a host of prehistoric creatures will take the Springfield Science Museum by storm. Life Through Time: Dinosaurs and Ice-Age Mammals will roar into the Springfield Museums on June 14 and go extinct on September 14, 2014.

Springfield based dictionary, Merriam-Webster, unveils its new words for 2014 at the Springfield Museums’ Steampunk Springfield exhibit.

Next month, an exhibit of master Modern paintings from the collection of the Brooklyn Museum will travel to the Springfield Museums. American Moderns, 1910-1960: From O’Keeffe to Rockwell opens on June 6 at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, and will be on display through August 31, 2014. American Moderns has been organized by the Brooklyn Museum; the exhibit’s local sponsors are Field Eddy, Inc. and Lyman and Leslie Wood. MassMutual is the 2014 Premier sponsor of the Springfield Museums.

Later this month, the Springfield Museums will unveil a new exhibit of original drawings by Norman Rockwell titled Norman Rockwell’s World: Reinterpreting the American Tradition in the 21st Century. The drawings, along with an original Rockwell-inspired mural by local artist John Simpson, will be on display at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History from May 20 through January 4, 2015. MassMutual is the 2014 Premier Sponsor of the Springfield Museums.

On May 13, a new exhibit titled Gifts from the Collection of Peggy and David Starrwill open at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. Long-time supporters of the Springfield Museums and active leaders in the arts community, the Starrs recently donated a dozen exceptional objects from their personal collection to the D’Amour Museum. A selection of the works will be placed on display in the gallery named for the couple---the Starr Gallery of Watercolors--- through August 17, 2014.